I hate potions class
by Fault
Summary: Someone messes with Harry's potion, resulting in Harry having some strange changes. Updating again.. a bit.
1. Hello Sixth Year

Disclaimer: don't own, and not making any money off this.  
  
Story of sixth year. The Slytherrins mess up Harry's potion, with an unexpected and lasting effect.  
  
AN: This is a fairly generic opening scene, so please don't grump if you've seen others like it among the 123000 fanfictions currently on ff.net.  
  
Story Rating: PG13 – for descriptions of gore and disgusting things happening. Chapter rating: G – because nothing happens yet.  
  
++++++++++++++++++ Hello Potions my old foe. ++++++++++++++++++  
  
Harry stood outside potions class. It was the first day of the new year, bright and fresh and exciting. It was going to be a great, great year. His summer vacation hadn't been any worse than any others, and he'd even had a decent birthday with a cake from his friends and everything. Then the trip to Hogwarts had gone smoothly, despite the strange creatures pulling their coaches. Nothing horrid or unusual had happened. Even Malfoy had been his usual nasty, jealous self, even if he was rather sullen and bitter about it. It wasn't good that Malfoy was picking on him, but at least it meant things were as normal. Harry couldn't even begin to imagine Malfoy being nice. A Malfoy being nice was either a symptom of mental illness, or a sign to run before the other shoe dropped.  
  
His two best friends Hermione and Ron were acting the same as always: Hermione trying to the two boys to study better, and Ron too busy being mad keen on Quiddich to take her advice. Yup, it was a great start to the year. Even though the threat of Voldemort hung over everything, from the way people spoke, to their fervent wish to learn defense spells. Even though there was an unspoken tension in everything, this year was starting out just great.  
  
Except for potions. Potions was never great. And it never started out well either. Harry just knew that Snape would have something extra nasty in store for him on the first day back. He just knew it. Things were going too well. Things were just a little too normal. Professor Snape would cook up something evilly difficult just to disrupt the peace, if nothing else. Harry took a deep breath, let out a sigh and opened the door. Hermione was already sitting inside, and he gratefully took a seat beside her. Just in time too. Snape whirled into the class like a thunderstorm soon after Harry was settled.  
  
"Welcome back.." Snape paused and gave Harry a look which conveyed that Harry wasn't included in that sentiment. ".. This year is going to be the toughest you've ever been through, and Potions class will be no exception. I will expect nothing but excellence from you each and every day you are in my classroom. If you feel that you are somehow lacking in any way.. "He paused again to look at Harry. ".. I suggest you leave now."  
  
Harry just looked determined. He didn't care about Snape's threats. Potions was a required class if he wanted to be an Auror, and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that, not even a bitter old Potions master.  
  
Snape surveyed the class carefully, looking over who had dared return to brave Advanced Potions. He apparently didn't like what he saw. He turned his back and started making notes on the board for the class to copy down. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and started writing about the uses of feathers in sun-shield potions.  
  
The notes were surprisingly short. The whole class put down their quills in relief. Then Snape favored the class with a peculiar smile, sending a shiver down everyone's back.  
  
"Get out your cauldrons, you will be making this potion alone."  
  
"And make it good, or else points WILL be deducted."  
  
Harry and Hermione looked at each other in disbelief.  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
Dun dun DUUUNN!!  
  
Tune in next time to see what Harry will do! 


	2. Stupid finicky potions

Disclaimer: don't own, and not making money.  
  
Chapter rating: PG-13 This is where the yuck stuff happens, and also some swearing.  
  
++++++++++ Chapter two: stupid finicky potions. +++++++++++++++  
  
Harry didn't groan, and he didn't curse, and he didn't glare at Snape. He just closed his eyes and mentally sighed. He was expecting something bad. And this was bad enough to make him feel that there were no more nasty surprises out of Snape. A difficult potion, made by yourself. That wasn't so bad. Harry had even had the good luck to remember some of the stuff Hermione had told him about sunshield potions. He shrugged at Hermione with half a smile and they both went to get all of their components.  
  
Harry was concentrating quite hard on powdering the quartzite to the correct consistency when a very sneaky and devious mind put a plan into action, something rather tricky and devious. A practical joke, if you will. All it required was one little spell to put the right component in with Harry's other potion ingredients, and then.. muahahah, Harry's potion would have some embarrassing results. The timing was perfect, the method impeccable, the only thing that went unconsidered was Professor Snape's keen sense for active magic happening around him. He whirled as soon as he felt someone activate their wand. Of course, that left him facing Harry, who was still busy with his mortar and pestle, unaware of anything.  
  
"Potter, if you cannot complete your potion without using levitation charms on your components, then I suggest you find a different class." Snape's sneer struck him full force, even across the room like that.  
  
Harry knew better than to argue. He kept his face as neutral as he could as he replied. "Yes, Professor."  
  
Oh no, someone had been messing with his potion, he immediately checked over all of his components, nothing seemed out of order. Feeling a little queasy, he carefully leaned over his cauldron, but it seemed unaffected as well, still glistening with an uneven rainbow sheen from the extract of dragon liver he'd added. He breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like whatever nasty thing whoever-it-was had planned was interrupted before anything bad happened. He glared at Malfoy, but the stupid git was busy pulling faces at his nasty-smelling potion, and not paying Harry any attention. Maybe he hadn't done anything after all. Maybe Snape was just bonkers.  
  
But then Harry spotted something. One of the goose feathers.. was different. Harry didn't know how, but it was.  
  
He picked it up, and held it up to the light. It didn't look any different, but it felt different. It felt alive. Then suddenly, the illusion spell that was covering the feather disappeared with a pop, and Harry dropped the feather in shock.  
  
It floated right into the potion.  
  
Harry froze in horror. The goose feathers were meant to be the sealing component, added last to complete the potion's change. Who knows what would happen if a.. it looked like a griffon feather. What if one was added in the middle of the potion? But just as he was about to fish is out, something strange happened. The feather glowed, and then is sung to him, and to him alone.  
  
Harry felt himself drawn to the feather. It whispered things to him, like it was something already within him, and he was only just remembering it. He leaned over the cauldron and looked at the glowing griffin feather as it stuck upright in the half-made potion. Then the feather went silent and dark, and the potion around it flushed an angry purple.  
  
And then it erupted.  
  
Harry fell back away from the exploding potion, his face and arms completely covered in strange-smelling purple gunk. The class looked around to see what the matter was, the Slytherins laughing at Harry's misfortune. Harry hit the floor, feeling very, very strange indeed. And a strange harsh light came from behind the desk where Harry fell.  
  
The class stood silent a moment, as Harry's hand appeared, slapping messily down on the desk, the potion gunk not covering the fact that his fingernails were pointed, and brown. "Harry?" Hermione squeaked, one of the two people who had gotten a good look at Harry. The other was Draco, but he was staring at his ruined robes.  
  
Immediately after that the whole class was gasping as a pair of gore streaked golden wings reared up from behind Harry's desk, splattering the closest with blood and gunk, including a good dose for a horrified Draco Malfoy. "Urgh.."  
  
Harry dragged himself up, and it became apparent that Harry was attached to the wings, his clothes in tatters where they ripped through suddenly. The classroom was unnaturally quiet as Harry stood, curling his wings against his back, his eyes squeezed shut in pain.  
  
Professor Snape's brisk footsteps sounded sharply on the floor as he strode over to berate Harry, an expression of superiority and disdain on his face. "Potter, what has your incompetence.. done.. this.." Snape trailed off in angered disbelief as Harry raised his head slowly, glowing golden eyes staring malevolently in the dim light of the dungeon. Then his eyes were hidden again as he clutched his stomach, and Snape drew breath to continue.  
  
That was when Harry vomited a large amount of blood across the desk and fell backwards onto the floor in a mess of flying blood, unconscious. The shocked shrieks and gasps of the class went unheard. Snape shuffled sharply back to avoid the overflow splashing his shoes. A moment later, he had recovered.  
  
"Malfoy.."  
  
Professor Snape looked at Draco for explanation, but Malfoy was busy looking ill, apparently being spattered with Harry Potter's blood and gore wasn't a cause for triumph after all. Whatever he was going to say was left unsaid, in stead he said: "Go clean yourself up. You too Granger."  
  
"But sir.." Hermione protested, unwilling to leave her friend.  
  
"No buts, go. The both of you, go."  
  
The two students left the classroom without another word.  
  
"You, and you." Snape gestured to the two strongest boys in the class.  
  
"Get Potter to Madam Pomfrey, then report back here."  
  
"Tell her I'll be down later to explain the circumstances of his.. accident."  
  
The two boys gingerly picked up Harry's unresponsive body, each shouldering him under an arm and grabbing him by his belt to steady him, unmindful of the purple gunk and streaks of drying blood.  
  
"And don't fool with his wings they're a transformation, not an illusion. I doubt Potter would enjoy waking up with a damaged back tomorrow morning."  
  
++++++++++++  
  
Out in the corridor Hermione whirled to face Malfoy, her eyes flashing with fury. "If you had anything to do with this I'll have your head, Malfoy."  
  
Draco made vague placating gestures with his hands, too dazed to want to fight. "Like I'd do something that got Potters blood all over me. Get real mudblood." His voice sounding just a little too shaky to be truly venomous.  
  
"I'm serious. If you've hurt him.." She left the thread unspoken, instead giving him a more dangerous look than he thought she was capable of.  
  
"So am I. He may be an arse faced git but I don't even understand how a sunshield potion could do that, let alone how he managed to throw up blood 'cos of a transformation.."  
  
Just then the two boys dragged a very broken looking Harry into the hall, and Draco paled even more, looking horrified.  
  
"I.. I didn't do this, Granger." Draco rushed to the bathroom, looking queasy. "I will find out who did this Malfoy." She called after his retreating back. Hermione took a look at her robes, a look at the boys dragging Harry down the corridor, and made a snap decision to follow Harry until he was safe in Madam Pomfrey's care. Snape be damned, she'd lie through her teeth if need be, he wasn't going to stop her making sure Harry got proper care.  
  
+++++++++++++++++  
  
Back in the classroom  
  
Snape looked around at everything, sneered, and strode back to the front of the classroom. "Everyone back to your potions."  
  
"We can't do that." Snape turned around sharply, to give the boy who spoke his full attention. "Are you defying me?"  
  
"No sir, it's just.." The boy gestured speechlessly at the gory mess in the third row. Snape surveyed it briefly before snapping him fingers, transporting all of the spattered gunk into the bucket in the corner of the room.  
  
"Potter's stupidity is no reason to interrupt your first class of the year more than it already has been. Now get back to your sunshield potions before I start deducting points."  
  
Then he turned his back, leaving the class to again ponder his sanity, and their own for having chosen his class.  
  
+++++++++++ TBC! 


	3. Back at the Infirmary again

Wow, only took me five years to continue.

++++++++++++++

The air was sharp and hard as he sliced through it. Over above the next mountain pass he spotted the golden castle, ramparts and peaks jutting into the air. Balconies sweeping out across the sky and gleaming in the light of the sun setting behind him. He felt the turbulence of the evening air as the shadows cooled and the updrafts slowed. Soaring in a great arc to follow the ridge where a final rising column of air gave him lift for the final stretch towards... where? What was this castle?

Harry started wondering what was going on, and then everything sort of dissolved in fuzziness.

...

Harry woke up in the infirmary, face down on a pillow and drooling on it a little. By now the infirmary wasn't an entirely unfamiliar place to be waking up in, though lying on his belly was a little unusual. He tried sitting up to look for his glasses and accidentally jerked one of his wings off balance. Instinctively he started to flap to right himself and almost fell off the bed as his wings caught air. Stifling a curse he grabbed the headboard and steadied himself against it. Slowly he got the hang of drawing both wings in close where they didn't unbalance him. Then he looked very carefully over his shoulder, not making any sudden moves. "Gah!" So he really did have wings. Why did he have wings? His memories of why he had wings were a little fuzzy and seemed to be tied to the dream he was just having now. Maybe he could ask someone.

Since he had been flapping around, Madame Pomfrey or another nurse should be along shortly to check on him. He glanced around to look if anyone was approaching but the room was completely empty, even the other beds had been moved out. A mote of dust floating through a sunbeam caught his attention as it moved and he tracked it for a moment with fixed eyes. Then he realised he didn't have his glasses on yet, and the sunbeam was across the room. He didn't even have sight this good with his glasses on. He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes and noticed the brown claws sticking out of where his fingernails should be. Was there anything else weird he should know about? With great trepidation he started touching everywhere to check things out. Things seemed otherwise normal until he got to his tail. With great alarm he tried to get a proper look at it around his wings, pulling his pants lower to make it easier to see.  
"Mr Potter!" Madame Pomfrey called from across the room. Harry quickly pulled his pants up and then got into a literal flap as he unbalanced again.

"Madame Pomfrey." He said, pulling the sheet up over himself protectively. Behind Madame Pomfrey was Professor Dumbledore.

"Hello Harry."

"Professor."

Madame Pomfrey handed him a small vial.  
"Take this, it's a restorative, and do try to keep yourself in bed." She added, eyeing his wings as they waved unsteadily around.

Harry held his nose and swallowed the entire thing in a gulp. Madame Pomfrey looked him over to check his recovery, then took the empty vial with her and left.

"How come I'm still.. all birdy."

"I think you'll find it's 'Gryphoney', and it seems like you've had a very unusual reaction. We don't want you getting ill again, so we're not trying anything magical on you until we're sure it won't make things worse. Professor Snape is investigating."

"He's the one curing me of this?"

"Professor Snape is the most qualified potions master on campus, Harry. Once he's sure it's safe, we'll get you right back to normal." Dumbldore smiled.

"However, until then you'll be staying here. Voldemort may see this accident as a weakness, and it's best we don't worry anyone."

"But I feel really good. Really.. strong" Harry said, eyeing the trees outside his window speculatively, golden eyes flicking from branch to branch.

Dumbledore looked at Harry thoughtfully a moment.

"I'm glad to hear that Harry, but I'm afraid you're going to have to be isolated from the student population for a little while, just until we can make you human again."

"Yes, Sir." Harry was so dissappointed that he was going to be cooped up that he didn't even think to question Dumbledore saying 'human'.

"I will of course, allow a few of your trusted friends to visit you, and give you notes for your classwork."

"That'd be.. really good."

"That's the spirit Harry. Now do try to rest." Dumbledore smiled a final time, and then left.

Harry was indeed feeling drowsy again, the restorative felt so nice and warm in his belly. He eventually figured out that face down was in fact his best bet, and drifted off to sleep again.

This time, he didn't dream.

+++++++++++++++

Random fact number #45: When you put 'Auron's hair' into Google the top results are all slash fiction. I was looking for hairdos! 


	4. What friends are for

Disclaimer: All characters and setting belong to J K Rowling. This is merely a thought experiment.

Warning: this chapter contains a lot of talking.. and not much else. However! Chattery leads to plot developments! I promise!

Also posted without proper beta reading, my apologised if it's all glurby and spaghetti-like

++++++++++++

Harry awoke feeling groggy, to find his two best friends goggling at him.

"Hi."

"Mate this is amazing." Ron enthused.

"I'd heard you'd really transformed, but I had no idea." Even Hermione seemed distracted by how he looked.

"You'd make an absolutely brilliant Seeker like this." Ron walked around Harry checking out his golden eyes and wings.

"Maybe..."

Hermione reached out to touch his head. "Did you know that you've got feathers in your hair.." "Oh they're soft."

Harry ducked his head back from her touch and tucks his wings in towards his back, glad that Madame Pomfrey had managed to make a shirt that fit around his wings.

"This isn't fun guys, this is bad."

"Sorry Harry."

"Well, You look really really cool. We're just saying."

"Well, it might be really really cool if only I could get out of here and fly." He looked at the windows again.

"You can fly?" ron sounded excited.

"I haven't tried, but yeah. I can tell."

"Wicked." Harry grinned back at Ron.

Hermione looked thoughtfully at Harry. "I thought you didn't like riding Griffins."

Harry shrugged. "I guess it's different when I am one."

"You reckon you can figure out how to get me outside?"

"Harry! You're in here so that you'll be safe, they don't know if you're going to start spewing blood again of something."

That was a sobering thought.

"Oh and before I forget." Hermione handed him a stack of papers and a funny little bubble thing. "The notes I took for you and your homework assignments."

"Ah.. thanks. At least it'll keep my mind off being cooped up in here. I feel like there's no air."

He peered into the little bubble and saw vague outlines of eyes and things swirling around inside.  
"Oh, that's a pop quiz. When you pop the bubble it'll start asking you questions. It only records the answers of the person who pops it, and it keeps watch to make sure you're not cheating too so don't bothing trying. Once you've answered it it'll report back to it's maker."  
Hermione handed him the pin that went with it.

"What class is it for? Harry asked, watching a little pair of lips wobble across the glass.

"Potions."

"I should've known."  
Harry set everything down.

"Harry, I think someone in class did this to you on purpose. There's no way a sunshield potion could've done that accidentally. They're hard to get right, but any chance of catastrophic failure is tiny, and this is not a known side effect."

Ron clicked his fingers.  
"Malfoy did it."

"Really?" Harry was all for dealing out revenge in that case.

Ron shrugged. "Probably. I can't think of anyone else slimy enough to hurt you that badly. Well, except for You-Know-who. But you should've seen Malfoy's face when he got all splattered by that gunk, hey. Like he was going to chuck."

Hermione cleared her throat. "We need proof, not wild accusations." She sighed. "No buts!" She added when both Harry and Ron opened their mouths to explain the Draco deserved to cop the blame for just about everything.

"Well," Harry started. "Snape did feel something getting levitated near me, and after that I found a feather, majicked to look like a goose feather."

"Did you see what it really was?"

"No, my memory sort of goes fuzzy after that.." Which was mostly true. The whole room had faded and it felt like he was riding the wind.

Hermione tapped her chin, thinking. "I'll see if I can find out about feathers that cause transformations."

"You reckon we could get our hands on the actual feather?"

"Maybe, though Snape probably has that gunk all locked up to study it." Harry grimaced. "He's supposed to be fixing me."

"we'll think of something." Hermione sounded determined.

"Why do you think I was the only one who was transformed, when both you and Malfoy got splashed almost as bad as I did?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe you'll grow a tail."

"You've got a tail too?" Both Ron and Hermione looked unnaturally interested by that.

"Yeah." Harry didn't explain further, and so they dropped it.

"we'll we'd better go."

"Yeah mate, make sure you not going to sick up, and then we'll spring you from here. okay."

"See you soon guys."

After that it was just him and the homework until dinner time. That and a good amount of stareing outside at the sky and wishing he was in it.

++++++++++++++++

This time when he slept Harry did dream.

Again he was flying towards the golden castle. This time it was the middle of the day and the air curled down in little waves towards the small lake at the foot of the mountainside, tugging at his wings gently. Waiting on the balcony was a tall man, with flowing hair that flapped in the breeze. Somehow he looked familiar to Harry.. and that's when things went all fuzzy again as he realised who he was, and so he woke up.

Harry just lay in bed a while this time, careful not to move his wings. Who was that man? And what did he have to do with the Castle?

++++++++++++

Please let me know via review if I muck up details with characters. I believe I haven't actually read the first through fifth books since 2003, so it has rather gone fuzzy. 


End file.
